Tukulu 2007

Tukulu 2007 Reviewed

“This wine could happily stand up to the wooded examples,” was what one of the judges in WINE magazine’s Chenin Blanc Challenge said about the Tukulu 2007.Given the fact that wood normally adds more structure, complexity and a certain distinctive flavour to a wine, the fact that an unwooded Chenin Blanc was awarded a 4 Star rating speaks volumes about the quality of the fruit. And the fruit used for this particular wine is from Tukulu, a large farm that is a joint venture between Distell, a consortium of black taverners and a local community trust.

The farm is just shy of 1 000 hectares in extent but only 375ha is planted to vine, with the bulk of that being red grapes. It’s located in the Groenekloof ward near Darling, about 50km north of Cape Town and the long-term plan is that the taverners consortium and community trust ultimately buy out the Distell stake. There is also a plan to make the farm fully organic, an ambitious aim given its size.

The wine was made by Adian Fry, the third winemaker to have vinified Tukulu fruit. He followed in the footsteps of Carmen Stevens and Wellington Metshane. In previous years a small portion of the Chenin Blanc spent some time in oak barrels, but the 2007 is unwooded. Grapes were harvested off 13-year-old bush vines that are unirrigated. Wine-maker Adian Fry said the vineyards still yielded a good crop of between eight and nine tons a hectare. The wine displays good apple fruit flavour with some citrus and mineral touches.

In contrast to many of the top Chenins in the competition this wine’s residual sugar is a low 1.7 g/ℓ and the alcohol is a modest 12% by volume. Although the farm is not open to the public, being part of Distell the wine is widely available – and 4 000 cases were made. Expect to pay around R32 a bottle.